Train rolls past Chargers

Stevenson pitcher Coltrane Rubner threw a complete game against Churchill on April 15, 2019.(Photo: Tom Beaudoin | Special to Hometownlife.com)

It was the Coltrane Rubner show.

The Stevenson sophomore pitcher threw a complete game, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out three. He also didn't walk a batter, but did hit two batters.

"He was consistent," Berryman said. "Other than the two in-discriminant hit by pitches, he didn't walk anyone. He got the ball over and he mixed his pitched well. He pitched composed. Even after the error that one inning, he could've fallen apart when the center fielder drops it, but he hung in there and kept us in the game."

Rubner said picking up a win over the team's rival was huge and that he felt right on the mound.

"I felt great, I felt really loose — probably the best I've felt all season," Rubner said. "I thought I was throwing pretty good. I hit my spots and had good velocity and good movement on my off-speed pitches.

"It's really important not to walk anybody. You don't want to give anyone free bases, so it's important to have control of your pitches and practice hitting your spots."

He made it through the first two innings without allowing a base runner. Churchill scored both of its runs in the third after a double, hit batter, sac-fly and then an error on the center fielder. After that, he allowed only three singles and never had more than one runner on base at a time in the final four innings.

"I think (Rubner) mixed his pitches up well," Churchill coach Ron Targosz said. "He had his fastball and curveball. I don't think we were real aggressive at the plate at times, I think we were guessing a little bit. Hitting wise, we need to have a better plan and take better approaches."

Balanced offense leads Spartans

The Stevenson offense was led for the most part by the No. 4-7 hitters in the lineup.

Cleanup batter Nate Waligora had two singles, Nick Olsen collected two singles and an RBI and Zak Ziemba tallied two singles and two RBIs.

"It's nice to see because they've been working very hard," Berryman said. "(Churchill pitcher Drew) Alsobrooks is a good pitcher. We have a style of swing that we worked on, and they executed it and it paid off."

Stevenson scored three runs in the second inning, two in the third and one more in the sixth.

Alsobrooks pitched for only the second time this season (his first appearance, he threw a no-hitter against Fordson). He pitched a complete game, striking out six, but walking four. He is returning from a back injury he suffered during football season.

"He's still got to cut down on the walks," Targosz said. "But I think he settled down and threw strikes. I thought he pitched pretty well, so I was happy with that. I wasn't sure how far he'd be able to go."

Ready for a rematch

The two teams will play again Wednesday in a game that will temporarily decide the KLAA Black Division leader. Both teams will start different pitchers.

Stevenson is hoping to keep things going exactly how they did Monday, with one minor change.

"We have to keep doing the same thing," Berryman said. "We hit the ball well. I'm a little concerned, we had some kids that couldn't get a bunt down, but we'll work on that tomorrow — that's an obsession of mine."

Churchill on the other hand, is hoping for another outcome.

"The biggest thing we have to do is worry about ourselves and not the other team," Targosz said. "We just have to continue to improve. We have a lot of young players. They had a big inning there where they had a few bleeders, and like I told the kids, that's baseball. You're going to hit bullets that get caught and hit dribblers that get through. We had an inning where they had a few that hit the right spots. We just have to keep playing our game."

Reach Andrew Vailliencourt at availlienc@hometownlife.com, 810-923-0659 or on Twitter at @AndrewVcourt.